Hi, I'm Erin. I work in a middle school library in Maine. I love to blog about anything that has to do with children's literature, the horror genre, authors, book festivals, arts and crafts, literary theory, film adaptations of books, history, libraries, classic film, women's studies and anything else that catches my interest.

Sunday, June 19, 2016

The Evil Shenanigans of Nazi Ghosts (in Maine)

I managed to knock out another book during my shift at the beach yesterday. I decided on another Dan Poblocki book since I enjoyed The Book of Bad Things so much. This one was also pretty good, but it didn't seem to have the same kind of mystery. I found myself making some pretty accurate predictions about where the story was going.

There's an old house, alone on an island, a bad storm at sea, and two young sleuths who discover that during WWII some Nazi soldiers were successful in getting on the island.

The Nazis are long gone, but their vengeful spirits remained in the area, and they manage to possess some of the people who are staying on the island for a wedding, leading to all kinds of evil shenanigans.

The island is fictional, but it's said to be off the coast of Maine, and I like books that take place around my home because it's easy to relate and just kind of slip into the story.

Eventually Eli and Josie, the two young sleuths, figure out why their family members suddenly begin speaking German to each other, and Josie finds a hidden room that once belonged to a young girl. I saw the Nazi spirit possession coming a mile away, BUT I will say that I did not expect an entire Nazi U-Boat to be resurrected, and for all the characters to witness an event of such supernatural power. Often in horror stories, the supernatural phenomena is witnessed by one or a few central characters, and the others are disbelievers who only serve to highlight the conflict.

Nothing that really made me ooohhh or ahhhhh, but historical fiction horror is always fun to read.

Dan Poblocki's next book comes out in August, and the cover is a departure from the usual ones:

It has a more modern, creepypasta kind of vibe than the past ones, which show a transparent ghost figure against a muted, sepia-tone like background. I'm looking forward to August.